Die for sheet-metal plates



Patented lam. 3, l899.-

L. L. SAGENDORPH.

DIE FOB SHEET METAL PLATES.

(Application filed J 21, 1898.)

(No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT Fries.

LON GLEY LEWIS SAGENDORPH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

DIE FOR SHEET-METAL PLATE S.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 616,976, dated January3, 1899.

Application filed January 21, 1898. $erial No. 667,437. (No model.)

To otZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LONGLEY LEWIS SA- GENDORPH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Phila delphia andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Dies for Sheet-Metal Plates; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention has relation to dies for pressing into shape metal platesfor ceilings,walls, roofs, panels, 850., and has for its object theprovision of means for facing and protecting the upper male or femaledie when made of soft metal, so that the durability of the latter may begreatly increased, its sharpness preserved, and a very great saving inthe cost of die metal and its renewals and the labor incident theretoeffected.

According to the present methods of constructing dies for pressing sheetmetal, such as iron and steel for building and decorating purposes, asolid-steel female or male member is first cast with the upper-facebearing the configuration to be impressed in intaglio. male or femalemember is then produced by casting into the face of the steel member amolten composition or alloy of Babbitt metal with other metals, such ascopper, tin, or antimony. The two dies or members are then arranged in apress, the upper die raised a sufficient distance to admit between thedies a sheet to be pressed or stamped,and the upper die then forceddown, so as to produce the desired configuration in the sheet of metalin the usual manner. Dies so made and used have many disadvantages. Thusthe soft metal for the upper die costs from ten to twenty dollars to tendollars to the first cost of the die. Again, the soft metal of the upperdie is so much softer than the steel of the lower die that the former inuse rides the latter and,

invention.

by being displaced and distorted,becomes useless after pressing onehundred or two hundred' sheets. Re'casting in such instances isnecessary, and even where this riding does not take place early in theuse of the die the sharpness of the configuration is greatly impaired bythe pressing of a limited number of sheets, so that the run isuneven,the last sheets failing to perfectly match the first or present aperfect pattern. My present invention is designed and adapted toovercome these and other defects, and to that end consists in adding tothe soft-metal die a hard or comparatively hard and durable facing,which will last as long as the life of the lower die and entirelyobviate the necessity of frequent, if any, renewals of the metal of thesoft die.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 is a sectional View of a pair ofdies embodying my Fig. 2 is aplan view of the lower die. Fig. 3 is aplan view of the upper die, and Fig. 4. is a plan view of thefacing-plate.

In carrying my invention into efiect I first produce the steel femaledie A in the usual Way, as by casting in a configured mold or by cuttingthe intaglio pattern in a block of steel, casting, however, beingpreferred as cheaper and equally suitable except for products of greatfirmness. I then cast into the steel die a male die B, formed of analloy of any suitable character, adopting for such purpose the cheapestmaterial obtainable and suitable, as there will be no wear or abrasionto be provided against and the high-priced alloys heretofore in use willbe unnecessary. After finishing and fitting the dies to the press Iproceed to form a facing for the upper die, and for this purpose take asheet of some metal harder than the upper die, such as steel or brass,and hammer it closely into the depressions of the steel die until aperfect fit is produced, or I may press this sheet of hard metal intothe steel die by the action of the upper die, preference, however, beinggiven to the hammering operation, since it prevents injury to the softmetal of the upper die, which might ensue in using it to force a fiathard-metal sheet into the depressions of the lower die. When thisfacing-sheet is perfected as far as can be by hammering, I force downthe upper die until the facing-sheet fully conforms to the face of theupper die,

and then raising the upper die fasten the facing-plate to it, A beingsaid facing-plate. The preliminary hammering of the sheet into the lowerdie may be dispensed with and the facing-sheet A produced by the firstaction of the two dies upon a commercial sheet of steel, which, beingafterward fastened to the upper die, forms a face, held between whichand the lower die the other sheets are pressed. I have carried thisprocess and the use of these dies into practical and extensive Work andestimate that the Wear on the faced upper die is too small to becomputed in any question of economy. I have been able with diesembodying my invention to press as many as forty thousand plates ofsteelwithont material depreciation in thequality or sharpness of thedies, so that the hard metal facing renders the life of the diespractically indefinite.

Should it happen that the hard-metal facing becomes imperfect from anycause, all

that is required is to replace it, but Without recasting the soft-metalbody.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A die for pressing metal plates consisting of a female member of hardmetal, a male member of soft metal, and a facing-plate attached to themale member, and made of harder metal than said male member,substantially as described.

2. A die for pressing metal plates consisting of male and femalemembers, one of hard and the other of soft metal, the soft-metal memberbeing faced with a plate of harder metal, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

, LONGLEY LEWIS SAGENDORPIL Witnesses:

HENRY G. SVVAYNE, WM. I-I. LoYD, Jr.

